


Four Christmases (Manchester)

by dizzy



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 12:31:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5417192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan and Phil visit an old friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Christmases (Manchester)

Ian's house is a warm a friendly chaotic mess. There's laughter and the shriek of a happy child down the hallway, footsteps running, the occasional tears being soothed by a parent. The guest room Dan and Phil stay in is full of treasures hidden by sticky little hands. They find a toy car underneath Dan's pillow and an artistic masterpiece of permanent marker along the wall by the bathroom sink that Ian apologizes for in a slightly sheepish voice. "We hadn't yet mastered what is all right to draw on and what isn't."

"It's fine," Dan says, judging Phil. "We haven't either."

"Dan!" Phil protests.

"Phil!" Dan mocks fondly. "Isn't there still sharpie on your duvet cover?"

"Yeah, but you put it there!"

Ian stands back, leaning against the door frame and watching. "You two." He shakes his head with a smile.

*

Later, when Phil is playing with the dog and the kid in the garden, Dan tries his hand at helping with dinner.

"You know," Ian says. "I know this is years on too late, but I still want to thank you."

"For what?" Dan asks.

"What all you did you for him." Ian nods toward the window, where they can see Phil still just barely. "Way back when. He was a bit of a mess before you came along. He's such a great guy, but after university I was starting to worry he'd never find anyone that would quite get past the weirdness and appreciate him."

"I don't even understand that," Dan says, shaking his head. He won't wax poetic about everything good and right and perfect with Phil, because he's not eighteen and he's learned to curb that impulse most of the time for the sake of both of their dignity.

Ian laughs. "I believe you, and I love you for that." 

*

Phil and Ian go out for a drink.

Dan hates it a little bit but he can appreciate, at least objectively, that it's good for Phil to go be with someone he can recount old memories with that really understands. He and Phil have talked about almost everything in their lives and pasts but Dan will never want to hear stories involving people Phil was with before him and Phil knows that.

Phil would probably do the same for Dan if Dan actually had any friends from his school days that he ever actually wanted to visit and catch up with. But he doesn't have any friends like Phil does Ian. Sometimes he regrets that, because there are probably people that didn't turn out all that bad, that might be nice to have some laughs with. 

Maybe one day he will. He's far enough from school days now that it might not be too awkward to ring someone up and ask if they want to get a drink. Or maybe he'll just keep on going back to his hometown for the smallest amounts of time that he can and returning back to his real home as quickly as he's able. 

*

Dan ends up playing video games with Ian's wife once the younger household contingent is tucked into bed. She gets them celebratory beers, because she says they won't sit around like boring housewives. What's good enough for their men is good enough for them. 

He likes her, he decides, because he's a lightweight and she gives him alcohol and suggests they play video games. 

She kicks his ass at Mario Kart and not because he lets her. 

"Phil won't believe it," Dan says, laughing so hard he almost falls sideways into the arm of the sofa. 

It's one of the better nights he's had in a long time, which is almost surreal because he almost never finds himself in situations where he's having fun without Phil around. 

When Phil and Ian come back in they're in a similar state. None of them are tired so they put on a movie and Phil falls asleep with his head on Dan's shoulder half an hour in. Ian tosses them a blanket for Dan to tuck around them and he's glad for it, and for the tipsy state dulling his natural inclination to be embarrassed. 

These are good times with friends. 

*

Dan makes the rounds with Phil the next day. They sleep in later than they intend because they're a little bit hungover but Ian's left them the makings of coffee sitting out and they stumble around an empty house until they're feeling something more like human. 

They leave their belongings with Ian but they visit Phil's aunt and his cousin and it's awkward because they're sure most of these people completely suspect that Dan isn't just a roommate but they're not close enough relations to really know.

Some of them emphasize their ignorance on purpose. Some are well meaning but clueless. Some just hint and hint, wanting in on the scoop. 

Phil has a poker face that can beat them all, though, and the amazing ability to play off a n insinuation in a way that makes the other person feel awkward for trying to correct him or push the matter. Dan's happy to sit back more quietly than normal, just smile and engage in small talk. 

They don't stay around for long. They're both tired and feeling that particular burn out that comes from so much energy expended trying not to say the wrong thing or give the wrong impression. Ian's house, while still not home, is a welcome reprieve from pretense. They sit for a little while with Ian just to feel like they haven't ignored him, and then retire to bed early

"We should have pack," Phil says. sitting on the bed. He yawns, his t-shirt rising up to show off pale belly. "So we don't have to in the morning." 

They've got an early train. The idea of sleeping in is appealing, so Dan lets Phil prod him into putting his stuff all back in his back before crawling under the covers. This bed is a little too short for them and they'll tussle back and forth all night long for space and blankets but they do the same in their own beds with plenty of room, so there's nothing really different there. 

* 

The morning is foggy and quiet. Ian gives them a ride to the train station and they both fall quiet to the memories of all the other mornings they spent doing the same, just the two of them. 

It's better when they're both going back to the same place. Dan might, in another lifetime, take Phil's hand and hold it tight right now. Instead he settles for a lingering look and a smile and the comfort of Phil returning it, knowing he's thinking exactly the same.


End file.
